WIGGINS — — While not very many people turned out for the rural representation meeting Monday night in Wiggins, those who did come were very passionate about the subject.

The Morgan County commissioners are holding a series of meetings to hear what local folks would like to see them do in terms of seeking more or better representation for the rural areas.

At the meetings so far in Fort Morgan and Wiggins, the commissioners have discussed and explained existing proposals for creating a 51st state or for changing the way representation is apportioned in the state legislature, which is called the "Phillips County option."

But they also have heard other suggestions, such as annexing part of northeast Colorado into Wyoming or using nullification to avoid enforcing laws passed by a majority in the statehouse without input from the rural areas.

That last tactic is one already being tried by many Colorado county sheriffs with the gun laws passed last session and signed into law last summer.

The small group in Wiggins discussed that, as well as many of the reasons why the people feel like something needed to be done.

The commissioners are gathering feedback so they can decide what role Morgan County would play in lobbying for some kind of change and what that change ideally would look like.

"What the commissioners have committed to do is to write a resolution," Commissioner Laura Teague said.

Once drafted and adopted, that resolution would then go on to the state and explain why the county wanted something to change about representation for the rural areas and what type of change would help alleviate Morgan County's concerns.

Many of the things people discussed Monday night in Wiggins were the same as what had been talked about at the first such meeting in Fort Morgan.

One of the things that was discussed in greater detail was the effects of Senate Bill 252, which raised the renewable energy standard for nonprofit electrical co-ops, such as Morgan County REA.

Geoff Baumgartner from Morgan County REA explained that one of the problems was that it was passed without input from the rural nonprofit electrical groups.

"Legislators never talked with anyone from the rural electric cooperatives before the bill was introduced," he said.

This also bothered Commissioner Jim Zwetzig.

"The idea that they wouldn't even have come and talked to our local providers is just wrong," he said.

Another problem, Baumgartner said, was that while bills were capped at raising only 2 percent from increased costs for renewable energy, that did not leave much ability for investing in new infrastructure.

That meant the renewable standard could only be met by buying renewable energy credits, not by generating more clean energy.

"That defeats the purpose of the bill," Baumgartner said.

A third problem with the bill, he said, was that it did not include all potential renewable energy sources, such as hydroelectric.

"If hyrdo had been included in the mix, it would have made the new standard much easier" to achieve, Baumgartner said. "They excluded what up to now have been considered renewable sources and included others.

He also clarified that the 2 percent rate increase cap only applied to the inclusion of renewable energy, not to other reasons why rates might go up.

"Our biggest thing is we were not even asked to be at the table," Baumgartner said. "It's not like we're against renewable energy. We just want it to be minimally invasive."

He said this violates multiple U.S. Supreme Court decisions regarding the Fifth and 14th amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

"We are buying renewable credits to prop up an industry, and it's wrong," he said.

The commissioners also spoke with people about concerns about the county's deficit and current federal and state spending mandates, but they pointed out that even if a 51st state were formed, the federal mandates would not go away.

"We're actually here trying to find solutions because we believe there are problems," Zwetzig said.

And while the meeting got heated and off topic at times, with people sharing frustrations about the federal government, Teague also pointed out that not everyone in the county feels the same about all the issues.

"It's the same people here at this meeting again," she said, adding that the attendees were not representative of the county residents who receive food stamps or unemployment, who are not in favor of gun rights or who voted for allowing recreational marijuana.

Commissioner Brian McCracken tried to reel the discussion back to the representation issue.

He said the commissioners shared many of the same frustrations as the people in the room, "but there's limitations in what we can do."

"We're here to try to understand and move forward the best way we can," McCracken said. "We're going to try to do what's best, not for Weld County, but for Morgan County. The good news is we've got people who are involved. It's going to have to start from the bottom up, because it's not going to come from the top."

Zwetzig and McCracken both said that the meetings so far had been beneficial.

"People are frustrated," McCracken said. "They're showing up."

"I think we're getting an understanding of what people's frustrations are and their ideas," Zwetzig said. "That's the purpose."

The commissioners will hold at least one more rural representation public meeting, with the Brush meeting cancelled at the height of the flooding, rescheduled for 7 p.m. tonight in the 4-H building at the Morgan County Fairgrounds.

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